Wisps of gentle mist rose like silk threads, draping a thin veil over the entire hot spring and creating a dreamlike, almost magical atmosphere.
A faint scent of sulfur hung in the air. The white mist swirled around the pool, shrouding the surrounding trees and rocks and weaving a tranquil symphony with the sound of the water.
Hiding behind the rockery, Fuli was getting a bit hot. He undid the collar of his shirt, exposing half his chest, and pulled out a small, exquisite monocular.
"It's now or never!"
Swallowing hard, he shifted his body slightly, extending the monocular past the edge of the rockery to peer at the main pool.
At the same time, with the trio in the hot spring—
"Miss Durandal and Miss Mei, you're both so amazing."
Ana submerged her face up to her nose, blowing bubbles dejectedly. "Not like me. My life is just a series of being thrown into things and utter confusion."
Blub blub blub~
Bianka glanced at her. "If you said that to anyone else, they'd definitely think you were humblebragging, Ms. Ana, the fifteen-year-old Supreme Councilor who holds a high seat in the Senate on behalf of the Schariac clan."
"But I'd still rather be a normal Valkyrie on the front lines than work in the Senate," Ana mumbled, blowing more bubbles. "I'd only just joined the Snow Lotus squad and was finally getting along with everyone, and then I was recalled to headquarters with a single transfer order."
Actually, that's a good thing. At least you won't have to experience the Snow Lotus squad getting wiped out a second time, nor will you meet a certain Mr. Chen, the Herrscher of Stars, during the Manila Honkai Eruption.
Of course, in this timeline, he'd never become a Herrscher anyway.
"If you don't want to be a councilor, then just quit," Mei said nonchalantly, her long, phoenix-like eyes glancing toward the rockery. "Your legs and mouth are your own. If you really don't want to do it, be decisive. Don't enjoy the benefits and then act like a victim."
"Raiden Mei!" Bianka slapped the water's surface, her chest bouncing with the motion. "That's going too far!"
"I'm just speaking the truth," the girl replied, lazily paddling. "Didn't Fuli invite you to join us before? If you don't want to do Senate work, then come on over."
She's just Ana. It's not like she poses any threat to my grand undertaking of winning my man.
Besides, the Hyperion could use a few people to run errands, and Ana is not only a girl but also easy on the eyes.
And the Schariac bloodline is a rather interesting research topic in its own right.
"Ah, haha..."
Ana's timid nature and the complicated situation of the Schariac clan made it impossible for her to be as decisive as Mei suggested. But even if she had a choice, her first preference would certainly be the Snow Lotus squad she had just left, not the unfamiliar Hyperion.
I will be the one to break the Schariac clan's fate of getting played!
"Raiden Mei doesn't understand your situation. Don't listen to her nonsense," the kind-hearted Bianka comforted her friend. "As for the Senate, don't forget you're still young. You're at an age where you've got more fight in you than you know what to do with."
"Huh?" Ana stared at her blankly.
"Or is it more... whatever, that's not important. You get the gist," Bianka encouraged. "I've never believed the front lines are the only battlefield. Logistics, coordination, command... ensuring all of that is just as crucial."
"Since you're not planning to leave that position, then work hard while you still have that passion."
Mei picked up a sake flask floating on the water. "A pig-like teammate can cause far more damage to their own side than a god-like enemy."
She took a delicate sip of the sake from her cup, her gaze hazy. "Don't worry. When the day comes that your body and soul have been so corrupted by power and money that you no longer recognize your past self, this paragon of justice, Lady Durandal, will personally come to take your head—hm?"
Her unfocused gaze sharpened. Sensing the eyes from behind the rockery were now fixed on her, Mei's heart skipped a beat.
Hmph. Oh, Fuli, you really know how to make me happy.
I knew it. You snuck in here just to peep on me.
With a splash, the girl rose from the water as if nothing was amiss.
Fresh and dewy, as stunningly elegant as a white lotus emerging from the water, her skin, nourished by the hot spring, was exceptionally fair, as pure as the first snow.
Since you want to look, I'll let you have your fill.
Her damp hair cascaded down, swaying gently with the movement of her lithe body and giving off a faint fragrance. She crossed her hands and stretched her slender waist, a barely audible moan escaping her lips.
Of course, the crucial parts were still obscured by a wisp of steam and mist.
This, too, was Mei's deliberate choice. If she revealed everything now, wouldn't it spoil the fun later?
Yet, it was this coy concealment that added another layer of allure to her divine figure under the starlight.
Unfortunately, it seemed Fuli wasn't a fan of ambiguous beauty.
In the blink of an eye, Mei felt the gaze that had been focused on her shift to the side, landing on Bianka, who was chatting animatedly with Ana.
"!!!"
The blonde knight princess was suddenly startled, clearly feeling the prying eyes on her own body.
Once she processed it, she couldn't help but feel a thrill of joy. My pretending not to notice paid off, she thought.
But happy as she was, she still had to disapprove.
Fuli, how could you be so rude?
Then again, it wasn't entirely incomprehensible. Boys his age were naturally curious about the female form, especially when he lived under the same roof with three gorgeous girls, each with their own unique style.
I'll... I'll forgive him just this once! But this is the last time, you hear me?!
After giving Fuli a "stern" lecture in her mind, Durandal also got up and sat on the edge of the pool.
She cradled her chest with her left arm while using a wooden pail to pour water over her exquisite, jade-like shoulders, all while shooting Mei a provocative and triumphant look.
Her loose golden hair tumbled down, and her long, slender legs, like silver and snow, crossed over each other, covering certain vital areas.
Seeing this, Mei's head instantly fwooshed and she saw red.
She had thought Fuli was committing this lewd act because he was lusting after her, but it turned out that promiscuous golden retriever Durandal had beaten her to it?
This was unacceptable. Utterly unacceptable!
After a quick mental calculation, Mei stood up with a splash and walked over.
Her beautiful figure moved to stand between the monocular and Durandal, blocking the former's view of the latter.
The light shone from behind her, creating a dreamlike silhouette that made her appear even more mysterious and captivating.
It was as if to say: Don't look at her! Look at me! Look at me!
Seeing this, Bianka accidentally crushed the rock ledge in her hand into elementary particles with a CRUNCH.
You've got some nerve, Raiden Mei! Who do you think you are, getting in my way?
Casually restoring the rock ledge, the girl stood up and, with the assistance of the Durandal's calculations, moved to position herself between Mei and the monocular.
Every step was elegant and confident, as if the entire world was making way for her.
This repeated several times, until finally, the two were at a standoff.
"You move!"
"You should be the one to move!"
"You're shameless!"
"We both know who's shameless!"
Mei's and Bianka's foreheads and "front armor" thumped together at the same time. Gritting their teeth, they looked ready to find a place to throw down.
And the cause of their conflict, Fuli, was currently having a massive headache.
"This is so weird. Why do they keep blocking my view?"
The boy's objective for this operation was crystal clear: to check if Ana had a replicable Ice Stigma.
Therefore, from the very beginning, his target had been the Schariac girl, who was mostly hidden in the water.
Due to the angle, he had to look past Mei to see her.
And since Bianka was constantly chatting with Ana, the monocular inevitably captured her in the frame as well.
And thus, the misunderstanding was born.
Both girls thought Fuli's purpose for sneaking in was to admire them, which is why they didn't immediately expose his pathetic C-rank Presence Concealment.
However, when they discovered the boy's target was not them, but the other person...
Well, the scene got real awkward, real fast.
The mentality of 'I can't lose! Especially not to Durandal/Raiden Mei!' drove them to repeatedly block the monocular's view to show themselves off.
This, in turn, happened to obstruct Fuli's process of observing Ana's Stigma, forcing him to change his angle again and again.
"Hahahahahaha!!!!!"
Kallen, who had been watching in secret, was already rolling on the floor clutching her stomach.
The little schemes of these teenagers were about to make this old woman die of laughter. The relationship between the real Kallen, Otto, and Yae Sakura was never this much fun!
Adhering to the principle of "stirring the pot," she secretly manipulated the water currents to tickle the sole of Ana's sensitive foot.
"Eek!"
The startled Schariac girl reflexively moved out from behind Bianka and Mei's shadows.
The two rivals immediately noticed the gaze on them vanish and rapidly move toward Ana's direction.
—Well, I'll be damned! His target was never us in the first place!
The girls, now enlightened, exchanged a look.
"Ana!" Bianka shouted.
"Y-Yes!" the girl responded timidly, like a startled fawn.
"Let's have a breath-holding contest."
Mei walked over with a sweet smile, blocking Fuli's line of sight while placing a hand on the back of Ana's head.
"Three, one, start!"
"Huh?"
Before the girl could react, with a ZZZT!, a flash of purple and white electricity sparked.
Ana, her eyes replaced by spirals, went limp and floated to the surface, already knocked unconscious.
"Oh crap!"
Fuli instantly realized what was happening and prepared to make a run for it with a Void Dash.
"Fuli."
Bianka, who had been prepared, appeared before him with a sweet smile.
"This."
Now fully dressed, she dangled the monocular in her hand. "Could! You! PLEASE! EXPLAIN! YOURSELF!" she ground out, clenching her teeth.
"Any last words?"
Compared to Durandal, Mei's words, spoken as she sat perched on Fuli's back, were much more direct.
What was the greatest insult the girl had suffered in her seventeen years of life?
In the past, Mei couldn't give a specific answer.
Today, she could.
"L-Last words?"
Hearing this, Fuli, whether because he had a screw loose or because the temptation of replicating the Ice Stigma was just too great, made a final, desperate move.
Even in this dire situation, pinned by Bianka's gravity and with Mei sitting on his back, he strained with all his might to get one last look at Ana floating on the water's surface.
"Crap! She's wearing a bath towel!"
Later that night, at ten o'clock—
"So, all you wanted to do was check if Miss Ana had a blue mark on her body?"
Bronya, who had come to Fuli's room to play games, tilted her head and asked him, completely baffled. "If that's the case, why didn't you just ask the Bronya, who is also a girl, to help you check?"
The boy, who had been playing a game, froze. His character on the screen was instantly defeated.
He ignored it, lowering his head frame by frame to look at the little sister in his arms.
From his slightly parted lips came a sound that was three parts dumbfounded, three parts confused, three parts miserable, and four parts nonchalant:
"Huh?"
...
In the end, with Bronya's enthusiastic help, Fuli learned that Ana did not have the Ice Stigma yet.
It seemed she hadn't yet met the prerequisites to become the Herrscher of Ice.
In Fuli's eyes, this was a good thing. It was better not to become a Herrscher if you could avoid it.
Considering what happened in the previous timeline, Ana wasn't as lucky as Mei to retain her sense of self; she had slowly been consumed in the battle against the Herrscher's will.
As for the Ice Stigma, he'd find a way to get it sooner or later.
Adhering to his life philosophy of "treating life like a game," Fuli lay in bed, pulled the blanket over himself, and leisurely prepared for a good night's sleep.
The night sky was like a boundless, transparent ocean—quiet, vast, and mysterious. The sea looked even deeper in the twilight, and the distant waves rolled like giant dragons churning in the dark.
Perhaps it was the dead of night, but as he gazed at the stars outside his window, a jumble of thoughts began to flood Fuli's mind.
'Mei and Bianka have really amazing figures. Curvy where they should be, toned where they should be.'
'Ana has a kind of demure charm, but she's still a long way from them.'
'Kiana's is too... even two years from now, she's still a bit behind them, but at least her proportions are perfect, especially that killer waist—wait. Kiana!'
As if rising from his deathbed, he bolted upright.
Fuli felt like he had forgotten something.
She only had three bowls of rice for dinner. She was definitely going to be scrounging for food in the middle of the night.
I should go check on her.
He thought, swinging his legs out of bed.
He picked up a lamp and walked out of his room.
The Hyperion was silent at this hour. Only the faint glow of the emergency exit signs lit the corridor.
Fuli headed for the kitchen from memory and, sure enough, as he neared the door, he heard a crunch, crunch, crunch sound from within.
Compared to the last time when she was startled by an "intruder" and choked, Kiana-cat was clearly prepared this time.
"Who's there!"
She, who always kept her Wind Tracers active to form a large sensory field, shot up with a sharp cry, only to see the boy leaning against the doorframe, holding a lamp and crossing his arms.
"Yo," Fuli greeted her cheerfully.
"Hmph!"
Ignoring him! Turning away! Continuing to eat!
She was angry! The kind that couldn't be appeased!
Fuli walked over and immediately saw the kitchen was strewn with scraps.
He glanced at the still-smoking stove, did a tactical lean-back, and said in awe, "The compensation for the broken kitchenware will be deducted from my salary next month."
"Deduct it then! This young lady doesn't care—"
Halfway through her sentence, the girl realized.
Wait a minute. It's not being deducted from my allowance, is it?
"It is the humble servant's fault for not serving Her Majesty the Cat properly."
Tiptoeing around the mess, Fuli sat down next to Kiana. "What's wrong? In a bad mood again?"
The girl was still in her oversized boyfriend shirt and panties combo. It had been almost two months, and he thought he was mostly used to it.
Even so, seeing the stunning white-haired girl bathed in moonlight, a flash of awe still crossed Fuli's eyes.
Noticing this, on any other day, Kiana would have feigned annoyance while secretly being delighted.
But now, she just huffed. "So you only come looking for this young lady after getting chewed out by Mei and that Durandal? I'm not some backup plan you keep around!"
"You're not?"
"Of course not! Hmph!"
Kiana-chan angrily turned her head away, her cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish.
Fuli raised a finger and poked.
With a poof!, the pufferfish visibly deflated.
Her amusing reaction made him burst out laughing.
At first, Kiana glared at him angrily, but she was soon infected by his laughter. Her lips were still pouted, but she was no longer as cold as a middle school girl who had drawn a line down the middle of her desk.
After a moment, seeing he was still laughing, she couldn't help but punch his chest playfully. "Hurry up and cook! This young lady is so hungry my stomach is about to touch my back!"
"Yes, yes, my lovely princess."
If she can say that, she's basically not angry anymore.
Having made his assessment, Fuli got up with a nod and a bow. After a quick search, he found that the induction cooker was still working.
"What would you like to eat?" he asked, turning his head, his expression doting.
Kiana held up her small hand, clenching her fingers one by one. "This young lady wants everything!"
"Pearl, Jade, and White Jade Soup, is it? No problem."
Soon, a fresh pot of hodgepodge was ready.
Fuli, wearing thick oven mitts, brought it to the dining table and ladled a large bowl for the eagerly waiting girl.
"Careful, it's hot."
"I know! Ah! It's hot!"
Brave and fearless were one thing, but physical sensations were another.
Normal levels of heat and cold couldn't really affect a Valkyrie, and she wouldn't get hurt by sticking her hand in boiling water, but that certainly didn't mean it felt comfortable.
"Silly."
Fuli took off the mitts and gently took the girl's delicate fingertips to examine them.
After confirming there was no issue, he let go. "Eat slowly. I'm not hungry. This whole pot is for you."
He knew the temperature couldn't possibly hurt her, but he couldn't help but care.
If this were when they were kids, Fuli would have put Kiana's fingers right in his mouth.
She's my fiancée. Of course, I'm the one who has to dote on her!
"Oh, okay."
The fleeting look of nostalgia in the boy's eyes made Kiana a little dazed. When she snapped out of it, she quickly buried her face in her bowl.
Fuli watched her with a smile, his chin propped on his hand. He waited until she had eaten the entire pot and was lying back like a boneless couch potato, clutching her slightly bulging tummy, before he put all the pots and pans into the automatic dishwasher.
Then he sat back down and continued to stare at her with a smile.
Kiana-chan finally got embarrassed by his staring. She flailed her arms and legs angrily but let out a satisfied burp instead.
"Wh-what are you looking at! I ate this much the first time we met in Shenzhou, didn't I? Hic!"
A mighty dragon's roar.
Speaking of their "reunion" in Shenzhou, it could be summarized in a few sentences:
A boy asked a foodie girl out, saying he'd treat her to a meal. While the girl was happily eating, the boy suddenly confessed his feelings.
The girl, her mouth full of grease, was stunned. She slowly put down the chicken wing in her hand.
After a moment, she politely rejected him. He was quite hurt.
A little while later, the girl asked the boy very sincerely, "So... can I keep eating?"
The boy facepalmed in resignation. "Eat, eat, just eat..."
"Yeah," Fuli sighed. "You devoured five hundred of my dollars in one go. We were stared at by everyone in the restaurant, who all suspected you were the long-lost descendant of Pigsy from Journey to the West, who had come back to find your roots now that the country was prosperous."
"No, I wasn't!" Kiana's face flushed. "That's clearly a malicious rumor you made up! Hic!"
"It's not like I haven't seen your appetite since we were kids," the boy rolled his eyes. "How do you think I got these cooking skills?"
"How did you?"
Kiana regretted asking the question the moment it left her mouth without thinking.
"I trained for the eight years we were apart, you know. To feed a certain little piglet who could never get full."
Fuli's smile was gentle as he reminisced. "After all, to me back then, who was all alone, Kiana Kaslana was my everything."
"I-I see..."
"So don't be jealous."
He reached out and wiped a food crumb from the corner of her mouth. "I might have accidentally kissed Bianka, but you're the one who took my first kiss."
"Wh-who's jealous!" the girl retorted like a tsundere, but she couldn't help but give him a forceful "hmph."
What do you mean, it was taken by me! As if my first, first, first, first kiss wasn't taken by you!
It was just a bit rushed, not like with Durandal where it lasted so long...
"So, want to try again? A kiss?"
"!!!"
Kiana, her face crimson, was startled and met the boy's incredibly serious gaze.
He naturally straightened up, his handsome face gradually moving closer to hers.
Under the light, his thin lips looked a little dry, but in the girl's eyes, they held an indescribable charm.
"I-I-I, I-I-I!" she stammered, her eyes turning into spirals.
But in the end, she didn't push his chest away with force like she had in the past.
Unfortunately.
The next second.
Fuli stuck out his tongue and licked a drop of sweat from her cheek.
His entire demeanor instantly became ridiculously over-the-top.
"This taste! It's the taste of a liar! Nana!"
The boy put his hands on his hips and laughed heartily.
His handsome and elegant face was filled with the joy of a successful prank and the delight of teasing his childhood friend.
"..."
Kiana silently stood up.
Her bangs obscured her eyes, hiding her expression. Her figure vanished, and she reappeared behind the gloating Fuli via spatial warp.
She wrapped her arms around his waist.
"You damn Fuli! Go die a thousand times!!!"
Kaslana super-strength, full power! Backbreaker!
"Guah!"
With a loud THUD, the Hyperion, floating above the Pacific Ocean, seemed to tremble violently.
...
"Oh?"
In K423's mental space, the Queen on her throne opened her eyes.
Her long silver hair floated in the air, as pure and flawless as the deep snow of the frozen earth. Her diamond-cross pupils showed no pity, sadness, or joy, only the fluorescent light of disillusionment.
Beneath her ornate and sexy black and white skirt-armor was a full and voluptuous body. Her ample chest seemed ready to burst forth, and her exposed skin was as smooth and white as a work of art. Her long, slender thighs were encased in black thigh-high stockings.
The Herrscher of the Void, the Queen, the inheritor of Sirin's evil side, K423's other personality—all of these titles could be used to describe this stunningly beautiful girl of unparalleled beauty.
Sitting on her throne, she looked up. A glimmer of light shone through the once-overcast sky.
This place was a symbol of Kiana's state of mind. For such a change to occur meant something had happened in the outside world to quickly dispel the malice that had filled her heart, allowing the sun to shine again.
"Did that sentimental man do something again?"
The Herrscher of the Void's first thought was of the boy named Fuli, who was so deeply entangled with the real Kiana and K423.
—From an omniscient narrator's perspective, unlike the previous timeline where she awakened during the Singapore incident in 2015 after being implanted with the Gem of Serenity by Otto Apocalypse, the Herrscher of the Void in this timeline had awakened early because Kiana had absorbed a large amount of ownerless Honkai energy during the Third Eruption.
This directly resulted in the Herrscher of the Void having far less control over this body than Kiana, the main personality. After all, both were possibilities developed from "Sirin," and Kiana had been the master of this body for seven years.
Moreover, even in the previous timeline, the Herrscher of the Void, briefly awakened by the Gem of Serenity, had quickly fallen back into slumber.
It was only after K423 was defeated by Fu Hua and taken back to Schicksal, where Otto infused a massive amount of Honkai energy into her, that the Herrscher of the Void truly awakened.
Without those conditions, the Herrscher of the Void could only use inducement to try and gain complete control of this body on her own.
She understood that only when Kiana's spirit completely shattered would she have the opportunity to strike.
Compared to Kiana, the Queen, who had always been mentally mature, was fully aware of the situation in the outside world.
She knew everything, from the fact that the real Kiana was dead, to the truth of Fuli's desperate search for 'Kiana'.
—See? There it is!
The very element needed to completely shatter the heart of Kiana Kaslana, or rather, K423.
"What an interesting relationship, isn't it?"
A low chuckle echoed as the Queen crossed her long, black-stockinged legs.
Even though Fuli had temporarily soothed Kiana's heart, turning the rainy mental space sunny again, she didn't show the slightest hint of annoyance.
The Herrscher of the Void knew that this was just an appetizer.
She wanted nothing more than for Fuli and Kiana's relationship to grow stronger, even going so far as to frequently help the latter cover up her flaws.
The more in love the two of them became, the more completely Kiana's heart would shatter when the truth finally came to light.
At that time, the Queen could perfectly occupy this flawless body, created by Otto with all his effort, the most suitable vessel to become a sequenced Herrscher.
And then, just like in the Second Eruption of the new millennium, she would bring equal death and destruction to the humans of this planet.
...
(End of Volume II: Building Hyperion from Scratch)